


Label Reads: NO

by Duchesse



Category: The Arcana (Visual Novel)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Gender Neutral, Gender Neutral Pronouns, M/M, Reader Insert, Romance, Self Insert, Spoilers, mc has impulse issues ayyyy, reader interactive, squish
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-24
Updated: 2017-09-24
Packaged: 2019-01-04 17:42:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,167
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12173658
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Duchesse/pseuds/Duchesse
Summary: When the label reads ‘no’, it obviously means ‘yes’.[Julian Devorak/You].





	Label Reads: NO

**Author's Note:**

> to explain, nyx hydra released a new feature to the app where you can spin, collect trinkets and then get an extra scene. well, this is based off the leech trinket that has the label "no" on it.

Beads of sweat trickled down the back of your neck, hair matting and sticking to your flesh. At every sound of the howling wind outside and the decrepit shutters cracking hard against the structure of the building, you flinched.

For all the tricks, magic, and gimmicks you had learned in your youth, as well from Asra, keeping your wit about you and staying one step ahead should’ve been a simple enough thing.

It wasn’t.

For you see, you were like any other human easily consumed by indulgence and sin. Essentially, it was a load of fancy words and phrasings you conjured up to justify most of the more superfluous things in life.

This was such a time.

You tossed a look across your shoulder, surveying the room for any hint of your companion. As it would seem, you were only joined by the layers of dust that aged the hardwood and furniture, plumes of dirt and god-knows what else gathered around your head like an inescapable fog.

Traces of large boot-clad feet were left behind on the floor as a reminder that you hadn’t come here alone. Long strides on the second floor shook the tenuous light fixtures, rattling the brittle chains.

For now, you would be safe. It was the most opportune moment to get a better look.

You scuttled closer to the open chest, smiling smugly to yourself as you drew a line in the air, emitting a faint golden glow that followed the motion of your fingertips, leaving behind streaks that formed shapes.

Snapping your fingers once, the glowing streaks shattered like fragile glass. Lockpicking had to be one of your favorite hobbies, despite all of your protests during the process of learning it.

With a final look behind you, you hastily removed the glass bottle from It’s imprisonment and placed it on the table.

A graceful, long neck with a globular body made up the simple structure of it. It wasn’t unlike anything you hadn’t already seen; your shop carried many like it displayed on the shelves, though you boasted yours were far more arresting with a unique  _flare_.

This bottle was too simple, distressed and veiled in dust despite having been locked in the security of the metal chest.

More curious than any of that, however, was the unnaturally grotesque creature on the inside, shriveled with a gaping black mass where you assumed the mouth was at one time.

Even curiouser than that was the yellowed label haphazardly slapped across the globe of the bottle.

What it read was simply tantalizing:  _ **NO**_.

_**NO**_. You reread that single word more times than what was normal.

What was missing from this situation was the context in which  ** _NO_**  had been placed, you reasoned mentally. Did it exist as a way to deter people such as yourself from opening it? Was the creature inside called  _ **NO**_? Perhaps  _ **NO**_  merely indicated number while the numerical symbol itself had been worn with time.

Either way,  _ **NO**_  clearly meant _yes_.

_Yes_  meant  _yes_.

What could be concluded from your investigation was a closer inspection would be integral to optimal understanding of the bottle, the leech, and  _ **NO**_.

A simple cork was the only obstacle that hindered your success in this mission. As luck would have it, Asra’s plethora of seemingly useless spells he had taught you were, in fact, useful. 

You had only began the spell to remove the cork, fingertips clasped atop of the circular cap, a luminous green mist slithered between your fingers and around the bottle much like a serpent before trailing to the corker and constricting around it. The cork visibly compressed.

“What the devil are you doing?!” barked out a familiar voice, jarring you back to reality and shattering the spell. You whirled around in time for Julian’s face to level mere inches from yours while he clasped your hand and pulled it away from the enticing bottle.

“What is that? It’s so nasty,” you commented, shaking your hand free from his to reach for the cork again. “I just want to look.”

He grabbed you hand once more, “No.”

You jutted your lips, reaching across his arm with your other for the vessel. Thwarting your progress again, he gripped your wrist with a little more pressure. You could tell his agitation by the lines between his brows and his deepening frown.

Peculiar. He had been just fine when you both first arrived. The change in demeanor called your attention from the jar for but a moment before you returned to it, pulling against his hold on you.

“So, that means yes,” you chimed, attempting to jostle his hands off of you. “Let me look!”

Julian’s eye narrowed. “No. It doesn’t mean yes. It means no.” 

“But no means yes. So, yes,” you rejoined, cackling triumphantly as you managed to rip free from your constraints and grabbed the vessel by the delicate neck, matching Julian’s reflexes to swipe it off the table and a make a bolt towards the door.

“Oh, for the love of…” Julian called your name urgently, opting to choose a different route for the doorway by climbing across the furniture haphazardly strung around the office. He jumped from the final desk to block your way out, your vision faded to black as you smacked into his chest, his arms surrounded your body first as a way to keep you from fleeing, and then to both upright.

Gravity won the battle, sending you both toppling to the floor where you fell atop of him, knocking the wind from his lungs. His eye never faltered from the glass vessel flipping through the air, having being tossed from your grasp when you hit him.

With one arm, he steadied your body against his and the other stretched far above his hand, palm facing up to catch the bottle sideways. You heard an audible sigh with the depth of his breathing at that moment, his head creating a light thump as it hit the floor.

“That was close. We would’ve been in trouble if it broke,” he groused, holding the bottle above his face to give it an experimental shake of the leech inside. “You wanted a look, right? It’s a nifty little fella at times.”

Confused by his statement, you lifted your head off his chest to look at the bottle. The sight of the large leech writhing around inside, emitting a quiet hiss as it propelled itself continuously at the glass, particularly in your direction.

“W-What the hell,” you croaked, withdrawing back to the safety of his chest, giving a rough jab to his arm when he teasingly leveled the vessel to your face. “Stop it!”

Julian laughed, weaving his fingers into your hair to give something of what you thought was a reassuring massage. “I wonder if it was your magic that disturbed it, or us shaking it around so much. I suppose that’s something worth investigating.”

“Only if I get to  _burn it to a crisp_ ,” you spat.

“ ** _No_**.”


End file.
